Sr. Art Director
Salary

Senior Art Directors in the United States tend to be well-versed in their field, and just below two-thirds have more than 10 years of experience. Average salary is expected to be around $72K annually, but may range from $50K to $116K per year. Overall cash earnings for Senior Art Directors stretch from $50K on the lower end to $116K near the top, and the heftiest packages can encompass around $10K from bonuses and $8K from profit sharing. Residence is the biggest factor affecting pay for this group, followed by tenure. Women are just slightly outnumbered, with male Senior Art Directors making up 57 percent of survey respondents. Medical benefits are awarded to most, and a strong majority earn dental coverage. The majority of workers are highly satisfied with their job. Respondents to the PayScale salary survey provided the data for this report.

XTotal Pay combines base annual salary or hourly wage, bonuses, profit sharing, tips, commissions, overtime pay and other forms of cash earnings, as applicable for this job. It does not include equity (stock) compensation, cash value of retirement benefits, or the value of other non-cash benefits (e.g. healthcare).

XTotal Pay combines base annual salary or hourly wage, bonuses, profit sharing, tips, commissions, overtime pay and other forms of cash earnings, as applicable for this job. It does not include equity (stock) compensation, cash value of retirement benefits, or the value of other non-cash benefits (e.g. healthcare).

Job Description for Sr. Art Director

A senior art director is usually a graphic design professional with many years of experience in their field. However, the “senior” portion of their title may only indicate this individual is in charge of a team of more junior designers. Regardless of whether he or she leads a team, a senior art director generally spends most of their time developing and implementing creative solutions to various types of graphic design problems. For example, they may design web sites, retouch photos for magazine covers, or create business-specific materials such as logos, business cards, brochures, and price lists. The type of materials they design and create depends largely on the company for which they work. Senior art directors are hired by a wide range of organizations, from video game houses to financial services firms to nonprofit institutions.

If the senior art director leads a team, then a certain portion of their time involves tasks such as mentoring junior design team members and providing feedback on their designs. They may or may not be responsible for periodic performance reviews and only sometimes have input into their team members' compensation levels.

Most companies prefer senior art directors to have a bachelor's degree in graphic design, as well as five to 10 years' experience in a related industry. Some companies want a potential employee to demonstrate their proficiency with a specific software program by holding a certification, particularly Adobe products such as InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator.

Sr. Art Director Tasks

Consult with clients during revision, purchase, and support stages.

Create designs.

Dictate the conceptual and visual development of designs.

Guide and mentor the creative team and deliverables.

Common Career Paths for Sr. Art Director

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At the upper end, Senior Art Directors who move into a VP or Creative Director role can end up with a hefty increase in pay. The average income for VPs and Creative Directors is $138K per year. A common career progression for a Senior Art Director is to become a Creative Director or an Associate Director of Creative Services. Compared to Senior Art Directors, the first group earns $6K more on average, and the second group earns $14K more.

Sr. Art Director Job Listings

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Popular Skills for Sr. Art Director

This chart shows the most popular skills for this job and what effect each skill has on pay.

Survey results suggest that Senior Art Directors use a fairly large toolkit of professional skills. Most notably, skills in Web Design, Advertising, Project Management, and User Interface Design are correlated to pay that is above average, with boosts between 8 percent and 14 percent. Most people who know Adobe Photoshop also know Adobe InDesign and Adobe Illustrator.

Pay by Experience Level for Sr. Art Director

Median of all compensation (including tips, bonus, and overtime) by years of experience.

For many Senior Art Directors, extensive experience does not lead to significantly more money. Workers in their first five years can expect to earn $68K, but people who have been around for five to 10 years earn a noticeably bigger sum of $73K. The average pay reported by folks with 10 to 20 years of experience is around $77K. Senior Art Directors with more than 20 years of experience report incomes that are only modestly higher; the median for these old hands hovers around $78K.

Pay Difference by Location

With a pay rate for Senior Art Directors that is 32 percent greater than the national average, Los Angeles offers a comfortable salary for those in this profession. Senior Art Directors can also look forward to large paychecks in cities like New York (+28 percent), San Francisco (+25 percent), Boston (+12 percent), and Denver (+6 percent). Senior Art Directors in Indianapolis make 28 percent less than the national average, proving that location is a major factor in pay. Two other places where employers offer below-median salaries are Detroit (18 percent less) and Farmington Hills (14 percent less).